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Office Artifacts: Robert Devaney

CAS math and stats prof collects coffee mugs—lots and lots of them

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With more than 300 coffee mugs in his office, Robert Devaney might seem at risk of caffeine overload. Not to worry—he swore off coffee years ago and now sticks to Earl Grey tea.

The College of Arts & Sciences professor of mathematics and statistics has been at BU nearly 40 years, and in 2010 was named the first Feld Family Professor of Teaching Excellence. He began collecting mugs at mathematical conferences and when giving talks at other schools. Word soon spread of his interest, and people began to give him a mug as a thank-you present. The collection remained at home until he and his wife downsized and he had to find a new home for it. That’s when he paid to have nine sturdy shelves built in his BU office. “When they were finished, I got a mug from the construction company,” he says.